Indian machinery

[Eddyde]

I think this is a video of that lathe being made:

Open toe footwear whilst casting iron, who knew...

 

[Shotgun]

Part of the problem may be that they don't teach things like metal casting in school anymore. I'm in my mid 50s and the most advanced thing I did (in jr. high) was make a Blue Oysyer Cult ankh on a band saw. A kid who was a year old made a slotted screwdriver, which he was quite proud of, which could necessitate heating of the tip. But if I had to guess it was just beaten flat.

And, if they taught casting:

• the parents would revolt because everyone has been indoctrinated that you need a college "education" to be successful, so how DARE they spend money that way
• the school wouldn't be able to obtain insurance because it'll be on the morning new's if lil' Timmy burns his finger,
• and there would be no jobs for the skill since OSHA, EPA, unions, and American distaste for dirty work chased all those jobs to India.

We're managers, man. We don't want physical labour and its downsides here.

This might be sarcasm.

 

[Makintrax73]

Open toe footwear whilst casting iron, who knew...

There are a multitude of shop/industrial videos from India/Pakistan on Youtube. To say that the lack of respect for life and limb is a bit shocking to those of us in the W.E.I.R.D. world barely covers it. People here generally have no appreciation how good they have it.

 

[Shotgun]

And those guys casting iron barefooted have a lot to do with WHY we have it so good here.
Go back a hundred years or so, and while you had different clothing, but the work conditions were very similar. We have since been able to offload that dirty work to these poorer countries.
India isn't sitting idle, though. I predict that in terms of quality, they'll be competing with the best the USA has to offer in 20 years.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

And, if they taught casting:

• the parents would revolt because everyone has been indoctrinated that you need a college "education" to be successful, so how DARE they spend money that way
• the school wouldn't be able to obtain insurance because it'll be on the morning new's if lil' Timmy burns his finger,
• and there would be no jobs for the skill since OSHA, EPA, unions, and American distaste for dirty work chased all those jobs to India.

We're managers, man. We don't want physical labour and its downsides here.

This might be sarcasm.

Careful there, someone put me on ignore for mentioning the EPA in a bad light.

Perfectly fine with me though.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

And those guys casting iron barefooted have a lot to do with WHY we have it so good here.
Go back a hundred years or so, and while you had different clothing, but the work conditions were very similar. We have since been able to offload that dirty work to these poorer countries.
India isn't sitting idle, though. I predict that in terms of quality, they'll be competing with the best the USA has to offer in 20 years.

But is that them coming up or us going down?

Had a hotshot trucker deliver a die the other day, looked to be Pakisatani

Didn’t speak much English, but I got his pantomime that I was crazy being out in the snow/rain in 35* weather without a coat.

He was bundled up head to toe……..

Wearing sandals with socks and standing in water.

He pointed at me, hugging himself and shivered, I wiped wet rainy snow off my bald head and pointed at his feet and looked at my steel toed boots.

I would rather be naked in the cold than have wet feet.

 

[SouthernChap]

Pfft...you US guys have no idea how good you have it.

Here in the UK, the concept of metalwork is a weird and frightening concept that nobody is taught these days.

Oh sure there are schools that have machine tools but they're very much the exception and they mostly tend to have at best a few pillar drills (drill presses to our American cousins) and some bench grinders.

I've looked for evening courses that include the use of lathes and milling machines and in the South of England, zilch, nada, bugger all. There are a few basic welding courses (which I might take a gander at sometime) but that's it.

The courses that involve machine tools are all proper apprenticeship level day courses, that are really quite expensive and that an employer might pay for.

There are one or two machining evening classes but they're up in the Midlands or the North (which makes sense as that region did at one point have a history of heavy industry).

The US, still acknowledges at least, that these kinds of skills have value. In the UK, the regard that machine shop skills are held in has been dropping rapidly since the 1970's.

Oh well, rant over.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Pfft...you US guys have no idea how good you have it.

Here in the UK, the concept of metalwork is a weird and frightening concept that nobody is taught these days.

Oh sure there are schools that have machine tools but they're very much the exception and they mostly tend to have at best a few pillar drills (drill presses to our American cousins) and some bench grinders.

I've looked for evening courses that include the use of lathes and milling machines and in the South of England, zilch, nada, bugger all. There are a few basic welding courses (which I might take a gander at sometime) but that's it.

The courses that involve machine tools are all proper apprenticeship level day courses, that are really quite expensive and that an employer might pay for.

There are one or two machining evening classes but they're up in the Midlands or the North (which makes sense as that region did at one point have a history of heavy industry).

The US, still acknowledges at least, that these kinds of skills have value. In the UK, the regard that machine shop skills are held in has been dropping rapidly since the 1970's.

Oh well, rant over.

About 10yrs ago we actually had to jump through hoops to get the local vocational school to reopen their metal shop for our apprenticeship program. Our first round of guys had brand new machines without electric as the Electrician program wasn't up to speed yet in their training.

Think about that for a minute.

Its up and running now, but personally I dont like the direction its going in.

Too much NC and EDM focus for people who need to learn how to use their hands first. I actually was taught by a brit (Hi Mr Rose!) who had to undergo a full semester in the proper use of hand files. He really opened my eyes to what apprenticeships used to be vs my training and I can now witness what is being taught today.

They were all given a rough sawn hunk of steel and had to make a perfect square out of it by the end of the semester using different methods for each side.

 

[skogkatt007]

Now have I got an idea for a metalworking course. Have a gander at this:

A guy finds a set of castings for a small lathe at a flea market. This is a multi part series, I haven't looked at much yet. So, furnish the students w/a similar (and you better believe it should be a British style lathe) set of castings, and teach them to finish them all the while learning various metalworking skills.

Yeah I'll bop on down to a NJ flea market this weekend and pick me up a set like that. I realize it's an uncommon thing no matter where you live, but it sure as h ain't gonna happen in this country. I want to find out where the bloke lives and pull the door off his mailbox (at least). I'm that jealous.

 

[Aaron_W]

Now have I got an idea for a metalworking course. Have a gander at this:

A guy finds a set of castings for a small lathe at a flea market. This is a multi part series, I haven't looked at much yet. So, furnish the students w/a similar (and you better believe it should be a British style lathe) set of castings, and teach them to finish them all the while learning various metalworking skills.

Yeah I'll bop on down to a NJ flea market this weekend and pick me up a set like that. I realize it's an uncommon thing no matter where you live, but it sure as h ain't gonna happen in this country. I want to find out where the bloke lives and pull the door off his mailbox (at least). I'm that jealous.

South Bend used to offer a kit for an 8x14" lathe. This ad is from the 1920s, but no idea how long they offered this. Would be kind of a neat project though, I wonder how many might be floating around unfinished.